Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier

Brewed: 03/08/2015Bottled: 03/29/2015

1st Place Winner !!!!

Truth be told ... the SheppyBrew Brew Master is fascinated by Bigfoot. He has been since he attended grade school in the Pacific Northwest. He has never really believed in Sasquatch, but has always hoped that someday someone would prove him wrong. As I shared on my blog, I think being a Sasquatch hunter (to hunt as in "to find" ... not as in "to shoot") would be a great job. See Sasquatch Hunting. I think I would like to party with Sasquatch.

I think the perfect beer to drink while hunting Sasquatch would be a German Altbier. Why? Well, when I think of Sasquatch, I think of forested wilderness areas far away from big cities. I think of old-fashioned rustic living in log cabins deep in the wood. Altbier makes me think of old-time German woodcutters living deep in the forest. I bet Hansel and Gretel's father drank lots of altbier. It might not make sense to you, but my strange and wonderful mind draws a parallel between Bigfoot and German Alts.

If you don't like the parallel, you can name your German Altbier something else. SheppyBrew is naming theirs "Sasquatch Hunter".

Sasquatch Hunter has a clean, full, rich German malt character. It has a firm, but not overpowering hop bitterness and contains significant floral, slightly spicy hop flavor and aroma. It is fairly dry and not very high in alcohol. It is a beer you can drink and drink camping in the forest looking for Sasquatch.

I would have liked to brew this on 12/21, the end of the Mayan Calender. Since 12/21 was a work day for me, I decided to push it off to my next brew-day which ended up being New Year's day 2013.

I entered this beer in the AHA's 2013 National Homebrew Competition. When the Denver Region results were posted, I was shocked to discover that I had won 1st place in Category 7 : Amber Hybrid Beer! The first place finish allowed this beer to advance to the national round.

Unfortunately, I did not have any of this beer left, so I had to re-brew it for nationals.

It scored well in the nationals final round, but did not medal.

Sasquatch Hunter Altbier --- Batch 3

Style

Northern German Altbier

Batch Size

5.50 gal

Type

All Grain

Boil Size

7.76 gal

Brewhouse Efficiency

70.00

Boil Time

90 minutes

Recipe Characteristics

Recipe Gravity

1.050 SG

Estimated FG

1.012 SG

Recipe Bitterness

43.4 IBUs (Rager)

Alcohol by Volume

5.1 %

BU : GU

0.864

Recipe Color

14.6 SRM

Color

Measured OG:

1.049

Measured FG:

1.012

ADF:

75

Measured ABV:

4.8

Ingredients

Ingredients

Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

7 lbs 8.0 oz

Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)

Grain

1

69.9 %

1 lbs 13.6 oz

Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)

Grain

2

17.2 %

12.0 oz

Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)

Grain

3

7.0 %

6.0 oz

Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)

Grain

4

3.5 %

4.0 oz

Carafa II (412.0 SRM)

Grain

5

2.3 %

0.750 oz

Magnum [12.90 %] - First Wort 60.0 min

Hop

6

41.6 IBUs

0.50 tsp

Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)

Fining

7

-

1.00 tsp

Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins)

Other

8

-

1.000 oz

Tettnang [2.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min

Hop

9

1.8 IBUs

1.0 pkg

German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007) [124.21 ml]

Yeast

10

-

5.00 ml

Clarity-Ferm (Primary 2.0 weeks)

Fining

11

-

Mash Profile

Mash Steps

Name

Description

Step Temperature

Step Time

Mash In

Add 13.41 qt of water at 163.7 F

152.0 F

60 min

Batch sparge with 2 steps
(1.81gal, 3.88gal) of 168.0 F waterRecipe NotesMake 1.75
liter starter a few days before brew day.Ferment as close to 60F as possible
for the first 3 or 4 days. Let warm up to whatever it wants after that.

03/06/2015 esheppyBought ingredients today. Will brew on Sunday.03/07/2015 esheppyMade a 1 liter starter today. Brew day tomorrow. 03/09/2015 esheppyBrewed yesterday. Everything went well. Nice kraussen formed today. Temperature at 60F.03/10/2015 esheppyHad gunk in the airlock this morning. Put in a blow-off tube. Doesn't appear that anymore came out. 62ish.03/10/2015 esheppyRealized that I forgot to add the Clarity-Ferm.03/14/2015 esheppyNo activity, but still lots of kraussen on top. Moved from gott cooler yesterday. 68.03/17/2015 esheppyBottled the extra mostly so I can have the smaller better bottle for secondary of the main batch. Got 8 12oz; 3 bombers; and 1 pet liter. Sample fantastic. Still pretty hazy.03/29/2015 esheppyKegged today. FG is 1.012, making it 4.8% abv. Sample tasty. Maybe a bit more bitter than I remember the previous batch.03/31/2015 esheppyWas able to put in keggerator today. Pressure at about 14psi for now.04/15/2015 esheppyBeen drinking. Had quite a few during the game 1 Blackhawks double overtime win. Delicious.04/19/2015 esheppyKeg blew. That didn't last long. I'm not happy about it being gone so quick. Still have bottles.05/08/2015 esheppyThe PET isn't great. Hopefully the glass bottles are better.05/27/2015 esheppyBomber. Not bad. Not as good as from the keg but better than PET.